OPENING
OF
ALKER H ALL,
A mherst College, A mherst, Mass., Oct. 20, 1870.
ADDRESS
BY W. A. STEARNS, PRESIDENT.
WITH OTHER EXERCISES.
BOSTON:
PRINTED BY RAND, AVERY, & FRYE, 3 CORNHILL.
I87I.








To Rev. William A. Stearns, President of Amherst College.
DEAR SIR:
At a meeting of the Trustees of Amherst College, held in Amherst,
Oct. 20, 1870, the following vote was unanimously passed:" Voted, That the thanks of the Trustees be tendered to President STEARNS
for his sound and able Address, pronounced to-day, on the occasion of the opening
of Walker Hall; and that he be requested to furnish a copy of the same for
publication."
Attest:           E. S. DWIGHT, SECRET'ARY OF THE BOARD.
To the Revered  nd and   onorable the  rustees of Amherst College.
GENTLEMEN:
Herewith I forward a manuscript of the Address.  I am gratified
that the views it expresses seem to have been so heartily approved by you; and
all the more, as, in my judgment, if Amherst College should adopt a policy of
education essentially different from them, the demand for its existence would
cease, and its mission be ended.
Respectfully and truly,
Your obedient servant,
WILLIAM A. STEARNS.
AMHERST COLLEGE, Oct. 25, 1870.








OPENING OF WALKER HALL.
THE day selected for the opening of Walker Hall proved, in
experience, a day of mark for the season. It was not characterized by the usual October beauties of our second summer,
but by a first-class earthquake in the morning, and the clouds of
a grand downpouring in the afternoon. The Springfield band
endeavored to perform its duty; but the great rain prevented
the time-honored procession, and left the audience, which was
larger than would have been expected under the circumstances,
to collect together in the best way it could. The Address was
delivered in College Hall; after which, under more favorable
skies, the assembly passed over to Walker Hall for the'inspection of the building, the opening prayer, and for statements
and brief speeches. The concluding part of the programme
was cut short by darkening clouds and premature evening.
But the appropriate and beautiful remarks of Prof. Roswell D.
Hitchcock of the Union Theological Seminary were sufficient;
and further speech-making seemed unnecessary.
The order of exercises was as follows:




6                  Opening of Walker Hall.
IN COLLEGE HALL.
I. MUSIC BY THE ORCHESTRA.
2. INTRODUCTORY PRAYER BY REV. MR. DWIGHT OF HADLEY.
3. ADDRESS BY PRESIDENT STEARNS.
4. COMMENCEMENT HYMN:Let children hear the mighty deeds
Which God performed of old;
Which in our younger years we saw,
And which our fathers told.
He bids us make his glories known,
His works of power and grace;
And we'll convey his wonders down
Through every rising race.
Our lips shall tell them to our sons;
And they, again, to theirs;
That generations yet unborn
May teach them to their heirs.
Thus they shall learn in God alone
Their hope securely stands;
That they may ne'er forget his works,
But practise his commands.
---
AIN WALKER HALL.
I. MUSIC BY THE BAND.
2. STATEMENT BY W. A. DICKINSON, ESQ.
3. PRAYER OF THE OPENING, BY REV. DR. PAINE OF HOLDEN.
4. STATEMENT BY PROFESSOR SNELL.
5. SPEECHES BY MEMBERS OF THE BOARD OF TRUSTEES, AND BY
GENTLEMEN FROM ABROAD.
6. OLD HUNDRED, BY THE AUDIENCE:From all that dwell below the skies
Let the Creator's praise arise;
Let the Redeemer's name be sung,
In every land, by every tongue.
Eternal are thy mercies, Lord;
Eternal truth attends thy word:
Thy praise shall sound from shore to shore
Till suns shall rise and set no more.




Opening of Walker Hall.                  7
PRESIDENT STEARNS'S ADDRESS.
WE have assembled for a public opening of our new temple of science, - Walker Hall. I had no intention, till quite
recently, of presenting any remarks on this occasion; but
having failed in all hopes of an address from other quarters,
and thinking it not quite becoming that so great an event in
our college-life as the completion and first occupation of such
an edifice should be passed over without attention, I have concluded to occupy a few moments on some of the subjects con-.nected with collegiate education, which are now agitating
the minds of all liberally-educated and most other intelligent
men. They are subjects on which I have long reflected, but
for the complete presentation of which I have now but too little
time. A few preliminary statements would seem to be required
by the circumstances under which we meet. The origin of
our building, the munificent spirit in which its funds were contributed, the uses and special kinds of learning for which it
was constructed, the division of its apartments, the order and
methods of its architecture, with notices commemorative of the
principal donor, and of the noble gentlemen by whom he was
generously seconded, -all have been sufficiently set forth in a
pamphlet entitled " Exercises at.the Laying of the Corner-Stone
of Walker Hall, June io, i868."
The principal design of Dr. Walker, in his contributions to
Amherst College, was to promote the education of young
men, particularly in the departments of pure and applied math



8              Opening of Walker Hall.
ematics, including the sciences which are based upon them.
A passage in his last will  and which is in accordance with his
correspondence and conversations -expresses the substance
of his views on the subject in question: "By the term'mathematical sciences,' I wish to be understood as meaning an accurate and critical study of elementary mathematics; every
branch of the pure mathematics; also such studies as are
kindred to and founded on mathematics as applied to astronomy, mechanics, natural philosophy, and all kinzdred objects,
speaking in a liberal and comprehensive manner."  I add
here a few noble words which immediately follow, and which,
though not so directly bearing on the subject in hand, express something of that appreciative sentiment, largeness of
view, and strong good sense, which generally characterized
Dr. Walker's dealings with our college: "Finally, I request
the recipients of the above-bequeathed property to realize
that no inconsiderable portion thereof has been gathered as the
fruits of a laborious vocation, exercised through anxious days
and sleepless nights; that it is given to them, in trust, nevertheless, to be expended so as to enure to the greatest advancement of sound education in the department as above
specified, and the public good. I request that its investment
may be safely guarded; that its expenditure may be subject
to the strictest economy; yet that it may be appropriated
liberally, where the objects aimed at justify an open hand,
and cannot be afforded the cause of education and the public
good at less expense."
As both the motive to the erection of the building, and the
large bequest which followed, contemplated advantages for
improvement in the same studies, it became a question to




Opening of Walker Hall.                   9
what extent the modern as well as the more ancient sciences
should be comprehended under the general term mnat/hematica/.
What are the sciences? What is science?
Literally, science is knowledge; but knowledge is not necessarily science.  A person may have an immense knowledge,
or, as Coleridge says, " knowledges," when he has almost no
science; though a very little science involves a large amount
of knowledge. These facts are of the gravest consequence,
to be remembered in all efforts to teach science. Undisciplined
minds are often the treasure-houses, or rather ware-houses,
of vast accumulations of unsorted facts and truths; while they
possess but few principles, and most of these without orderly
arrangement. The well-trained scholar, on the other hand,
with a much smaller number of facts, will reach a much
broader comprehension. By knowing a few things of a kind,
he perceives many things of the same kind; and, having learned
the methods of their application, he comes to understand details before he has collected them. With an ignorant man,
facts and principles are nearly of the same value; while the
educated desire nothing so much, next to the discovery of
truth, as the power to classify its parts, and comprehend it in
its classes, and, if possible, in its first principles.. Science may
be defined, then, as generic and foundation thoughts, completely developed in logical connections. The science of a
subject consists of the principles, relations, results (orderly
arranged), which belong to it.  They are phenomena, facts,
axioms, truths, resemblances, contrarieties, causes, consequences, applications, some obvious, some hidden, some undiscoverable. When the knowable has been separated from
what cannot be known, and the former has been arranged,
2'




IO             Opening of Walker Hall.
classified, collected into piles, bound in bundles, and from
them  generalizations have been made and foundation-principles reached, and the unity from which the multifariousness
proceeds has been discovered, we have something which
approaches a perfect science.  Beginning with unity, and
descending, we have the subject, its grand divisions, its subdivisions, its details, all in their places; we have the subject
in its relations to other subjects, and to some higher subject.
(if there be such) of which it is a branch; we have the subject, with the physics (if it is concerned with phenomena) and
the metaphysics, the applications and the principles, which
belong to it. A science may exist in itself, with all its departments and connections, before the analysis or comprehension
of any man has mastered or approached it. In this state it
is not properly science as we now understand the word, but
only the subject of science. It may be grasped and partially
comprehended by some person, and so far forth it has become
a science to that person.  It may be generally understood,
orderly arranged, written out in a book, or otherwise expressed, and, through all this, stand out as a science in the
presence of the student who desires a knowledge of it. In this
respect, we have our sciences; and with text-books, lectures,
specimens, diagrams, &c., we study them.
But in this high and comprehensive definition of science
have we left any place for. philosophy?   Philosophy and
science, in the older usage of the terms, are often almost
identical. Philosophy, perhaps, is the more generic word. It
has been not badly defined as "the universal and absolute
science," dealing most with "real as distinguished from phenomenal existence."  Aristotle called it the "art of arts" and




OpeniXng of Walker Hall.                I 
"the science of sciences;" Kant, "the science of the relations
of all knowledge to the necessary ends of human reason;"
Morell, "the science of first principles.' According to more
recent usage, however, the distinction between science and philosophy, without being accurately defined, is, in a popular way,
sufficiently obvious.
Mathematics is always regarded as a science; though nothing
comes to us more perfectly as the dictates of human reason than
the abstract, absolute, eternal truths of the pure mathematics.
The branches of knowledge which are based on mathematics
are properly sciences, not philosophies. Mixed mathematics,
or mathematical principles, applied to actual forms and motions, to the correlation, equation, antagonism, and co-working
of forces, — in other words, mathematics as applied to astronomy, to mechanics and civil engineering, to what is usually
called natural philosophy, and to physics generally, —all these
departments come under the head of science and of mathematical science.  If, a century ago, one had undertaken to
describe the mathematical sciences, he would have gone but
little beyond the exhibition here presented. What are now
known as the modern sciences, if not entirely new discoveries,
are the prodigious developments of the last half-century.
Within this period, chemistry, which early attracted attention,
has burst forth from its old contracted and fanciful boundaries
to a growth which astonishes the world. That chemistry is
based on the principles of mathematics, none but a tyro would
question. Mineralogy, especially in the department of crystallography, involving so much as it does of chemistry and so
much of geometrical law, is certainly mathematical. I cannot
but think that geology deserves the same designation; and




12                Opening of Walker Hall.
that, when this wonderful subject is more perfectly understood,
its mathematical basis will be universally conceded. What is
there, indeed, of forces, whether gentle or of terrific power,
what is there of forms, proportions, motions, time-measures,
which is not involved in it?  As mere history, the succession,
progression, and varieties of life, whether written ages ago
on the great tables of rock which the Almighty constructed
and imprinted for our after-learning, or as seen in existing
species, there is nothing, so far as we know, that is obviously
mathematical; but when we come to the structural laws of
animals and  plants, whether fossil or living, the  question
undergoes a change.
Botany and zoology, in these respects, are certainly mathematical; and there is high authority for extending the term
much farther.  The indications now are, that the time is not
distant when not only every flower and tree and raindrop and
snowflake will be regarded as mathematically constructed,
but mathematics will be discovered beautiful and profound
in what might be deemed the least mathematical departments
of natural history, and  that they will. all be reduced  to the
character of "rigid sciences." *
* The opinions of some leading naturalists are worthy of consideration. Prof.
Agassiz says, in his book on the " Structure of Animal Life," " If we take the
problem of radiation in a mathematical point of view, and present to the mathematician the question involved in the plan of radiation, it will be this: How to
execute with the elements given, with a vertical axis around which are arranged
parts of value, all the possible variations involved in that plan? This question
is not a mere fiction. I have presented it to one of our greatest mathematicians.
I requested him to solve the problem, how to devise structures variously executed, the elements being given, without introducing any new elements.  His
answer was readily given; and it was this, that the simplest way would be to




Opening of Walker Hall.                              13
It is not necessary, however, that questions like these should
be- brought to a decision. My own belief is, that wherever,
in the entire domain  of Nature, the forms and movements of
matter are conditioned on abstract laws as applied to them,
there the mathematical element has a place. This view would
include arts as well as the sciences, and that, too, in both the
represent the whole sphere as a series of wedges placed side by side with one
another.
"And, to make this demonstration as clear as I can, I will take for illustration
the melon, the ribs on the outside of which will give the idea of wedges combining
to form a spheroidal body. The orange which I hold in my hand would give us
the same idea, with one additional element, which I will consider presently.  Let
me take first the inside of the orange. You all know it is divided into a number
of parts, which are all equal. They are what mathematicians call spherical wedges,
the edges of which correspond to the axis, the spherical surfaces of which are
segments of a sphere, and the sides of which are surfaces dividing those segments
one from the other. Now, in executing any structure upon the idea of radiation, the simplest way would be to bring together around the axis a number of
these spherical wedges until the whole space is occupied by them. There would
be a larger or smaller number, according to the angle of the sides of the
wedges."
Passing from zoology to physiology, Prof. Huxley, as long ago as the meeting
of the British Association of Science in August, I865, addressing that able body
of scientific men, said, "Over the door of the department of physiology ought to
be written the words,'Let no man enter here who does not study physics and
chemistry.'" Dr. Bennett proceeded to observe, that biology, and physiology as
a department of it, were not only connected with chemistry and physics, " but included mathematics and all the rigid sciences." If one is suspicious of Prof.
Huxley on account of his protoplastic vagaries and materialistic tendencies, it
should be noticed that the remarks of these eminent scientists seem to have been
received rather with approval than objection by the association. But, without
passing judgment on the full question here presented, whoever has examined,
however cursorily, such works as " Thomson and Tait on Natural Philosophy," and
"Challis on Mathematics and Physics," and observed the extent to which mathematical principles can be applied, will hesitate to affirm of any thing physical that
it has no elements which are also mathematical.




14             Opening of Wa lIker Ha ll.
practical and the aesthetic branches. And certainly music,
architecture, and statuary are pre-eminently mathematical.
But, without straining the term as usually understood, several
of the most important modern sciences are certainly of this
character.  We say several, but not all of them.  There are
departments of learning, ancient and recent, which are sciences, some of which could not be brought unider that designation unless. by the most remote and fanciful analogies.
In psychology, moral philosophy, social economy, civil history,
public law, ethnology, there is almost nothing of science which
can be called mathematical.
I have made these remarks, partly because the ability of our
college to do the best thing possible in teaching mathematical
and kindred sciences might be thought to depend on the
interpretation of terms; though, practically, the income of all
gifts and endowments for such teaching is likely to be required
far within the limits on which they stand conditioned. Emerging now from all relations to buildings and bequests, but remembering the descriptions which have been given of science
and the recent sciences, as the basis of remarks which may be
made farther on, we ieach the question respecting these
sciences, —How far, and at what sacrifices, should they be
taught in American colleges?  This question, and others collateral with it, have been earnestly discussed by some of our
ablest scholars, and are now attracting unprecedented attention both in the Old World and the New. If but little purely
original can be expected on themes like these, judgments can
be formed, and convictions expressed, and something done
towards clearing the paths of expediency in reference to the
teaching in institutions situated like our own.




Opening of Walker Hall.                 15
To approach the subject advantageously, we must first inquire into the character and design of the American college.
It is an institution peculiar to itself, and, as such, should be
distinguished from all other schools. Its immediate end is
educated and completed manhood; and, since nearly all our
colleges were founded and have been conducted with the
interests of Christianity in view, we may add to the epithets educated and completed, and as the highest interpretation of them, Christian manhood. The design is, by discipline
and culture, to make MEN, -the broadest, largest, wisest,
noblest, and most useful men; scholarly men, in distinction
from mere scholars; men of trained and increased capacity,
capable of becoming scholars in general or specific directions.
In this respect they resemble our common schools in kind,
though advanced above them in degree. The common school
is not a professional school, nor a school for special employments or utilities: it is a school for the incipient culture of
our manhood, for the improvement of our intellectual and
moral natures, and, most of all, for obtaining dominion over
self, and the power of intelligent self-direction; and, consequently, the means for reaching these ends are essentially the
same in all. It is not the business of the common schools to
educate one portion of the boys to be masons, and another merchants, and another farmers; or to educate one class of girls to
adorn drawing-rooms, another to toil in kitchens; but to fit
them all for good in themselves, and for such positions in life
as they may be called to fill. And this is just the end intended by the college: only the means for the attainment are far
more extensive, and the results sought far more complete.
But the college differs in kind, as well as in degree, from almost




i6             Opening of Walker Hall.
all other schools except the common. It differs from scientific,
commercial, agricultural, polytechnic schools, military schools,
schools of mines, and all institutions of similar design. Though
not without reference to discipline and culture, these are chiefly
intended to furnish instruction in specific departments, and
as preparatory to specific usefulness. The public needs demand
them, and their exceeding importance is not to be -disputed.
They are contributing to the advancement of the country in
many directions. But none of them are colleges in the American sense of the term, even when they bear that name. The
American college differs also from the German gymnasium,
with which it has. often been compared.  The latter may be
as thorough in its instructions in'the branches which it
undertakes to teach as the former; but in  breadth  and
general culture, in paternal discipline and Christian influence,
is far inferior to it. Much more does the American college
differ from the German universities.  These are great treasurehouses of information and various teaching, by which  the
student may attain rank, if he will, in specific departments,
and prepare himself for public offices and positions.  We may
need something of the kind in America, and, indeed, have already an approximation to it in our professional schools; but
these are not colleges, and do not aim essentially at securing the
development of completed scholarly manhood. Nor do our colleges closely resemble the English universities, nor the halls and
colleges included in them, though the founders of Harvard
borrowed ideas and courses for their new institution from the
old ones in which they had been educated.* Our new univer* An American college, in which the instruction is thorough and well arranged,
offers far greater facilities for the completed culture of its students, generally,




Opening of Walker Hall.                              I7
sities are still more clearly to be distinguished from our old
colleges. The one or the other may be of most importance in
securing the instruction of all the people; but they are not
the  same, and  do  not propose the  same ends, or the  same
methods in reaching  them.  The  new  university, as it stands
up before the community and solicits patronage, seems to say,
" Behold here a great fountain of knowledge, from which all who
desire  may  come  and  drink;  a great centre  of instruction,
where intelligent students of every grade may be taught. Here
you will find all departments of learning; the ablest professors,
instructors, lecturers, in  all branches;  parallel courses  and
graded courses, on which  you may enter, and one or many of
which you may complete.  We shall keep no merit-roll of proficiency: our methods require  no'marking system,' which is
troublesome to officers, annoying  to students, and  invidious.*
We shall hold ourselves in no measure responsible for the
morals, the manners, the spirit and character, the Christianity,
the manhood, of our students.  If they neglect their duties, if
than the Universities of Oxford and Cambridge. While these institutions carry
forward their "honor men " to a more advanced scholarship than is usual with us,
there is reason to believe that the best students of Amherst, at the end of the
sophomore year, with a very little " cramming " in specific branches, might take
with credit in England the regular degree of bachelor of arts, which is obtained
here only at the end of the senior year.
* To conspicuous marking, especially when the scale is relative, and is applied as a stimulus to the highest scholars, there are certainly objections; but so
long as there are daily recitations, and honors are awarded according to success, a
current record of proficiency seems helpful to justice in final decisions. General
impressions at the end of a course, without records, expose to mistakes. If frequent competitive examinations are depended on for estimating merit, we retain
a "marking system," only making it more generic and less specific, while the evils
of it, if there are evils, are not removed.
3




i8             Opening of Walker Hall.
they yield to temptation, if they go to destruction, their blood
must be upon their own heads: only they must not hinder or disturb the proper work of the institution, on penalty of dismission from it." Beyond this the new university has little responsibility, except to confer the appropriate testimonials upon
those who succeed in their studies and have completed them.
The new university has its advantages: it provides courses of
knowledge for all; and if large masses of young men can be
kept within the bounds of public order and decency, without
personal supervision, without much attention to Christian principle, and without the necessity of daily recitation and discipline,
it furnishes immense relief to the officers of instruction.  But
no institution of this character comports with the idea of an
American college. In contrast with all this, the colleges say,
"We propose a liberal in distinction from a specific education;
a symmetrical, and, as far as the possibilities of a four-years
course will allow, a complete education.  We are not schools
of knowledges and informations so much as of training and
culture.  We would make scholars for some useful end; but
still more would we make scholarly men, capable of almost any
useful end which they may afterward select. We devote ourselves especially to the improvement of the intellect; but we
are not regardless of character, without which unprincipled
intellect is often a curse. The whole man comes into our consideration; for our aim is to make men. In the business of education, we seek to employ, not merely great intellects clear as
ice-crystals and as cold, but great intellects which have great
hearts, and great hearts whose warmth the student is sometimes made to experience and enjoy."  While the recent university contemplates large masses of young men congregated in




Opening of Walker Hall.                  19
a city or town, who come up at appointed times, and in their respective divisions, to receive instruction, and then scatter themselves abroad again in the surrounding population (most of
them without homes and without care, in the midst of temptations), the college is designed to be a great family, and, according to the original intention, a great Christian family, in which
every member of it is expected to come under the family influence.  The modern university may be doing a good work;
but it cannot do the peculiar work of the college, which has a
province of its own. The college may be a department in a
university; but, if so, it should be the central department, and
a college still. The moment it adopts the spirit and the methods which characterize the foreign and the recent universities,
it ceases to be a college, and the country suffers loss. We
have two noble old colleges which are each the heart of a growing university. If we read the signs aright, there is a disposition among many to degrade the college in both of them
nearly to a level with the professional and scientific schools
around them, - a calamity from which we trust that public sentiment and the powers of control will preserve them. Let all
the schools connected with a college be cherished; but let not
the college be seduced, by the numbers in other departments,
so to popularize its curriculum, and introduce the university
methods and the university spirit, as to destroy itself.
Nor should the college, whether it stands alone or is connected with a university, give way incautiously to the desire
of foreign imitation.  In a new country like ours, on a continent unknown when the great mass-schools of Europe were
founded, in the midst of a new order of population and new
forms of religion, we ought to expect new methods of educa



20              Opening of Walker Hall.
tion.  Colleges adapted to our wants should be original in
their character, indigenous to our soil, -an American, not an
Oriental or Old-World growth.  With the lights of the past
and the Eastern continent, our fathers had to provide for the
necessities of the present and the Western. On this principle
Harvard was started, and gave a first example for the wHole
sisterhood of similar institutions.  The American college is,
to a great extent, an original production,-the offspring of
American circumstances and wants.  It can be modified, and
has been with changing times, and should be still further improved; but the peculiar characteristics of its teaching and
influence were never of more importance than now. With our
rushing towards mere practical utilities, with our tendency to
materialism, and the popular disregard for the aesthetic and the
moral sentiment, the colleges should stand forth as the powerful conservators of what is good in the past, as the foremost
friends of the discoveries of the present, and as the advocates
and agents of a free, enlightened, thorough, and symmetrical
Christian education.
One word, as we pass, respecting college dormitories. They
belong naturally to the old college, which is a family; but are
quite foreign to the recent university, which refuses to be
responsible for character.  The founders of Harvard had an
opinion on the subject. The experiment of mass-universities,
with lodgings and boardings in private houses, had been extensively tried in Europe: nevertheless, says Cotton Mather, " the
government of New England was for having their students
brought up in a more collegiate way of living." Hence the
early erection of a dormitory at Cambridge, and the continuance
of its system to this day. I cannot sympathize entirely with




Opening of Walker Hall.                 21
those who disparage it. I rather regard with veneration those
old plain buildings which have been associated with the best
scholarship of the country for more than two hundred years,
and in which.so many students have enjoyed the quintessence
of what is called college-life. They are not out of taste; for
they'present no deformity, while they make no pretensions.
I think they would be more comfortable with some of the
modern improvements; but, still, why should they be despised? Why should they be stigmatized as "old monasteries,"
when they are all the time open to the world, and the world
all the time open to them; when within the old walls there
is so much social enjoyment, and so many and such valuable lifelong friendships are formed; and when one-quarter of
every year is devoted to vacations and the delights of home?
What should we gain by their destruction? What would
England gain, and what would her scholars say, if the destruction of all the time-blackened and time-honored buildings of
this class should be decreed? It is said that they are demoralizing, so many young men being crowded together. There are
demoralizing influences everywhere. But according to my experience, especially in a college, where the majority have been
brought up in Christian families, and are themselves essentially
actuated by Christian principles, there is more of that beautiful
charity which consists in throwing the arms of a loving solicitude around a classmate in temptation than of that satanic
spirit which would drag down others to the level of its own
degradation. It is said that students thus situated require an
efficient police, which always excites odium, to control them.
I am not sure, that, in a college like our own, public sentiment,
with the interference of authority on rare occasions, is not the




22             Opening of Walker Hall.
best police possible. But would not young men be better off
scattered around in good families? Perhaps so.  But how
many good families are there around a large college who take
boarders, and look after them morally? We have a few (God
bless them! I wish we had more); but how insufficient the
number! Is it not essentially true, that if the college does
not provide buildings for.students, and regulate them, the students will practically provide them for themselves, and not
regulate them? Besides all this, as society is now constituted,
economy demands them.  Men reason illogically when they
draw  universal conclusions from  the outlook of a narrow
experience. What is important in one order of circumstances
may be quite inexpedient in different premises and relations.
Let the old dormitories stand, then, at least in Amherst, where
many of the rooms are hallowed by the memories of some of
the noblest men the world has produced.
We are now prepared to repeat the question, Ought the
modern sciences to be largely taught in our colleges?  They
will, of course, be largely, and ought to be thoroughly, taught
in scientific and kindred schools; and there are warm friends
of the old college who think this enough. "Let the college
go on," they say, " as heretofore. There are new schools for
new studies, and whoever will may avail themselves of them;
but let not the college proper yield any thing to utilitarian
demands."
Quite different is the opinion now to be advocated.  New
studies should receive new attention.  No graduate can be
pronounced liberally educated who is ignorant of them. Forty
years ago, almost nothing of these recent sciences was taught
in the college. There was a little chemistry, but so little and




Opening of Walker Hall.                  23
so superficial, that any good high school should  now  be
ashamed of it.  If there was any thing in any department of
what is now called natural history, it was hardly more than
a schoolboy might learn out of some popular reading-book in
the winter evenings of a week.  Indeed, within fifty years,
there has been a wonderful development, not to say an original
starting, of numerous branches of natural science.  Great
advances have been made in the means and comforts of living,
public and social prosperity has been promoted, and the world's
thinking modified, by the more recent learning.  Ought a
graduate to go forth with the crown of laurel-berries on his
brow, to enter upon professional studies or on the common
duties of a citizen, as ignorant in one great department of
knowledge as the average of the population with whom  he
associates?  Or can a college president stand up at this day
without a blush, and say of his pupils, Quos scio idonzeos esse ad
gradzum  primuzm  in arlibus suscipiendumn, when he knows
that there is a whole continent of knowledge which they have
never explored? Or can they respect the alma mater which
declares them educated, when they find at length that they
must now acquire under great disadvantages, and without any
habits of true scientific study, those first principles, which
they ought to have learned, and to some extent carried forward, in college?
These studies furnish a peculiar variety in the means of mental discipline, which, while important to all, is specially adapted
to interest and improve some classes of minds. It is a discipline
which connects the training of the senses and the observing
facu'lties with the laws of thought, to which all phenomena,
to be understood, must be referred. It is a discipline which




24             Openzng of Walker Hall.
the poetic and aesthetic temperament needs to give sobriety
to the imagination, and which, in philosophic minds, is adapted
to correct the tendency to live too exclusively among theories
and abstractions.  It is a discipline, if properly conducted, for
improvement in the line of common sense; while, under a
skilful instructor, it is capable of exact logical methods, and,
reverting from phenomena to principles, of tasking the thinking powers to the utmost.   While valuable for discipline
generally, these sciences have charms for some minds, which
no other branches of learning afford. They rouse the listless;
they fascinate the otherwise uninterested; they make the difference between a willing and an unwilling scholar; and, in
some instances, create a love for study, a self-respect, and new
courage, the benefit of which is felt in all the work of the
college.  While too exclusive attention to them would not be
well, within wisely-assigned limits they are scarcely inferior
in importance to the most valuable departments of learning.
In a college like our own, especially in view of the large and
splendid cabinets and means of illustration which we possess,
and the scientific prestige which men like Adams and Hitchcock, to say nothing of living professors, have given us, it
would be shameful to neglect them.
Besides these considerations, as nearly all our colleges were
founded to promote Christian education (and this is pre-eminently true of Amherst), they cannot reach the ends of their
being without these studies. Christianity now finds its most
powerful antagonists in men who call themselves scientific.
St. Paul warned the Christians of his day and of all ages
against "philosophy and vain deceit," and "against profane
and vain babblings, and the oppositions of science falsely so




Opening of Walker Hall.                 25
called." Philosophy, as an engine of unbelief, has had its day,
and has lost its power.  For more than half a century,
especially in Europe, it was rushing through the great dark
wilderness of thought like an irresistible storm; and the world
was astonished by the crashing of the tall trees as it swept on,
promising soon to reach a new heaven of intelligence in which
dwells certainty. But, when it came out, lo! it had gone
round the compass, and reached the point where it went in;
and ever since it has been lying on the earth, panting and
despairing, but still saying with bated breath, " We have found
it out, - something is equal to nothing." Philosophy was
never a formidable antagonist, as she dwelt chiefly among abstractions; and never reached down directly to the common
people, nor hardly to theology itself: but science, modern
science, in the hands of the unbelieving, was and is a more
redoubtable champion.  It came like a Goliath, with "the
profane and vain babblings and oppositions " which the apostle
speaks of; and there were no shepherd-boys, trained to the use
of the smooth stone and little sling, which could destroy its
bad influence. Science lies at the foundation of almost every
living question between mere naturalism and Christian faith.
Her first attacks found the Christian world unprepared to
meet them.  Educated believers, with few exceptions, knew
almost nothing of science: it had not been taught in the
colleges and schools of the last generation. Faith trembled.
The true Church said, " I know that my Redeemer liveth;" but
she could not give scientific answers to scientific men. The
elders in the ministry now on the stage had to resort to
schoolboy knowledge, and learn the first principles of defence;
and though the Christian scholarship of the day now stands




26             Opening of Wal/ker Hall.
erect, and, in the name of God and good learning, defies the
attacks of this modern infidelity, thousands on thousands of
noble youth have been unsettled by it, and need to be re-established. Trepidation will never again come on the leaders
of our hosts. Christian scholarship has studied and thought
itself through, and now declares that contradiction between
science'properly understood and the Bible properly inter-.preted is impossible.  We would put no restraint on investigation. Truth is truth; and it is strong, next to the Almighty.
No Papal decree, or Protestant prejudice, or pious trembling,
can resist it. It has existed in the mind of the All-knowing
from everlasting. There can be no antagonisms in it. Seeming discords are only chromatic strains in the great anthem of
the universe, producing the absolute harmony. The works of
God should be "sought out of all them who have pleasure
therein." We ask the scientist to inquire of Omnipotence,
through the study of his records on the rocks, how he constructed the foundations of the earth, and what were the beginnings of his creation. We ask him to penetrate with the
microscope into the infinitesimals of protoplasm, and go down
with his dredging-shovel into the deepest abysses of the sea.
We do not forbid him to express his doubts when he honestly
disbelieves: we only demand of him that he should approach
sacred subjects with a reverent spirit, and of our Christian
scholars that they should be educated to follow him. The sons
of the Church, the mother of true learning from the first, should
be foremost in scientific discoveries, and in logical deductions
therefrom; but, for such a result, our young men must be
taught at least the beginnings of science in colleges, and
taught by men of thorough, broad, unbigoted intelligence,




Opening of Walker Hall.                  27
whose souls, not leaping with desire towards unbelief, regard
scientific questions from the outlooks of an honest Christian
faith.
But if the sciences are to be taught, and taught thoroughly,
in colleges, must not much of the old learning give place to
them? Many in the American public say yes; scholars, not a
few, say yes.; all the materialism of the day vociferates yes.
And when it is asked, "Which department in the curriculum
shall we strike down?" the answer generally is, " Away with the
old Latin and Greek! bury the dead languages in the dead past,
and let us have the living sciences in their stead." And many
of the boys in preparatory studies, and some in colleges, shout,
"Away with the old grammars and lexicons! and let us go out
among the butterflies and the birds and the flowers and the
rocks, and we will find Latin, or its substitute, in stones, and
Greek in the running brooks." The birds and the flowers are
well; let the boys and the young men study them: but they
are not all, nor are the natural sciences.  Man does not
live by bread alone, nor by amusement merely.  His nature
is broad, and his faculties are various; and Providence has
prepared for the cultivation of them. Next to reason, man's
special distinction is speech: it is that through which he
hears the voices of all ages and all men, and makes his
thoughts known to his fellows, and holds them up to himself.
Whatever study we omit, we must retain LANGUAGE.
Speech in its highest form, the living Word, is God's expression of himself to himself, and the expression of himself to
us. In man, it is the self-revealing mirror of his own consciousness, and the medium  of his revelation of himself to
others. Of all things human, speech, next to reason, which it




28             Opening of Walker Hall.
represents, is most divine. While it begins with the little
sounds and narrow vocabulary of children, lifting itself to exalted themes, it advances through strange complications and
relations, all controlled by laws of thought, till, out from the
deep laboratories of the heated spirit, there comes forth, multiform in unity, some grand idea which moves the world. How
mysterious that thoughts, invisible, intangible, — "airy nothings,"  can be caught, grasped, clothed in words, thrown out
to view in sentences, submitted to consideration, or handed
down to distant generations, and be found all glowing and
palpitating with life centuries after the authors of them have
passed away!  Language thus presents itself as a special
study for man.
Language is the first school-task which Providence assigns
to our infancy. It is adapted to the young, and is easily acquired
by them. From small beginnings in native speech, we advance to the study of foreign tongues. The great languages
of men -we regard them with awe. There is the old Sanscrit,
in which primeval Brahmins expressed their daily passions,
and their dark musings on life and eternity; there is the
Hebrew, whose earliest utterance, and the earliest of any
language on record, is a miracle among sentences, -" In the
beginning, God created the heaven and the earth;" and there
is the Syriac, in which Hazael revolved his thoughts of ambition and murder, and the Holy Child lisped the sweet syllables
of a divine innocency and uttered the great ideas which are
revolutionizing the world; and modern tongues, by which nations are bound to themselves, and separated from each other.
But, among the languages of men, there are two which have
made a more extensive and durable impression than almost all




Openingz of Walker Hall.                29
the rest.  I need not name them. The Greek, as a language,
is a marvel. It seems to have been providentially given as the
language of languages, by which men might learn language;
as the nation which spoke it is often said to have been raised
up for a revelation of the beautiful, - to teach the world beauty.
The Orphic bards,- flower-gardens in the wilderness of a barbaric antiquity; and then Hesiod and Homer, so extensive
in vocabulary, so original in idiom, so flexible in application, so
perfect in finish, that it would seem as though centuries of
poets could scarcely have produced them; and Plato, pouring
out philosophy in the dialect of the heavens; and Demosthenes, the supreme model for oratory in all after-ages:
could we afford to dispense, in high scholarly training, with
the study of language, and of such a language as this? And
hardly second to it the Latin; less original, less pliable, more
stately, more perfectly wrought out, no less comprehensive,
quite equal in its power of world-wide adaptation, the language of the greatest of the empires, the tongue of the
learned in many following generations: would a college curriculum be perfect without it?
But, if we study languages, why not living languages instead
of dead ones? Is the Greek a dead language, when spoken,
with slight modifications, by a whole nation of descendants at
this day? Is the Latin dead, when we have the daughters of
that great-mother-tongue, - Italian, Spanish, French? - when
it has been the language of the educated world till long since
the Reformation, and is much spoken in Europe among the
learned even now? Do you call the Greek a dead language,
when, beneath the beautiful costume of words, all thought, all
passions, all actions of men, are throbbing with life? The




30             Opening of Walker Hal l.
men are dead, and so are our best English authors; but, to
the true scholar, the Antigone, the Iliad, the Orations of
Cicero, are no more dead than the Tragedies of Shakspeare,
the Epics of Milton, or the Speeches of Pitt.
Why not select a living language? Because, again, there is
no living language, unless our vanity would except the English, which is equal to them. But do we not need the modern
languages for the sake of the modern literatures, and of the
sciences, and of travel? We need them: let us study them.
But the old languages are time-saving lights in the acquisition
of the new; and a short residence in Germany, France, or Spain,
to a young man who has studied the old, and taken short college-courses in the new, is worth more than years of mere
reading in books.  But ought we not to give more time to the
English, which is familiar and of daily use, instead? We ought
to give more time to English, but not instead. For the very
reason that it is familiar and daily used, the indolent will not,
and the undisciplined cannot, linger and dwell upon it, perceive constructions and relations, and shades of meaning, as
when the words are new; and the thoughts must be understood
before the language can be fully interpreted.
It is significant now, on the question in hand, that the Latin
and the Greek languages have been the forming-powers and
training-agencies in the scholarship of the world for two thousand years; and no utilitarian times have been able to displace
them. It is also significant that the Greek and Latin authors
brought into Europe in the fifteenth century, and the revived
study of them, were powerfully influential in rousing the world
from the darkness and sleep of medieval ages, and ushering
in the Reformation. It is significant, again, that the greatest




Opening of Walker Hall.                  31
statesmen and churchmen of England, both of the past and the
present, have nearly all been specially trained in the discipline
of these ancient tongues.  It is significant, further, that so
many distinguished Americans involved in the dry principles
and technicalities of the law, and in the almost vulgar strifes of
politics, - men like Choate and Webster and the Adamses, -
in the ripest days of their influence were accustomed to resort
to the old classic masters for inspiration before debate, and for
healing and repose after conflict was over.  And that there
is in them a power of mental excitement and uplifting, and
preparation for public speaking and writing, second only to
that which the Christian derives from the Scriptures, no true
scholar of the classics will deny.
There are times and studies in which students are more
conscious of inward quickening and improvement than in
others.  If you will pardon a personal allusion, I know of
memories connected with the closing part of the first book
of the Georgics, the second and sixth books of the /Eneid,
the CEdipus of Sophocles, and the Lyrics of Pindar, in the
study of which the sense of growing gave an exhilaration of
spirit never afterwards forgotten. Something of this remembered consciousness may be associated with other departments; but, among minds of aesthetic susceptibility, with none
-more impressively than with these old classics. A portion of
the pleasure derived from such memories may indeed depend
on old associations, and that romance of college-life which the
graduate never gets over; but all this only strengthens the
reason why these studies should not be excluded. But pleasure
is not the only benefit of such memories: they are powerfully
educational in all the student's after-life, as often as he recurs




32             Opening of Walker Hall.
to them. I once asked my old friend and classmate, the late
President Felton, as we were walking over the college campus
at Cambridge together, for what he would exchange such recollections.  His prompt answer was, "Nothing which  any
amount of money can buy."  When in still hours the old college-life comes up again, and I call back some of those brilliant,
gifted minds which have passed from earth, and true men still
performing life's duties, as well as some of the less fortunate
who struggled in unequal combat with temptation, and think
of them as they were in the hilarities of the playground and
the competitions of the class-room, I seem to be sailing with
the mariner who hears sounds of bells and melodies and
voices coming up from cities buried in the sea as he floats by
moonlight over them.  And are not such consciousnesses
produced by such remembrances soul-expanding?
But, returning from the land of dreams, there is one thing
more practical, which must not be passed over. The errors
of young men arise greatly from mistakes of judgment. Is
there any thing, except bitter experience, which is better
adapted to correct this fault, than that habit of comparing
reasons, of looking carefully after all the elements which affect
interpretations, and of coming calmly, like a judge before his
jury, to results, which is going on every moment in the lessongetting of the classics? And is any training more helpful
than this towards that power of balancing probabilities by
which just conclusions are formed from evidence, the practical
affairs of life are managed, and that high quality of character
known as wisdom is obtained?
If language is to be retained in its fulness, shall we omit
philosophy to make room for science? All scholars answer,




Opyening of Walker Hall.                33
No! The student must be taught the laws of thought and
the processes of thinking. There must be an opening of the
mental vision, by which he can perceive ultimate principles,
and grasp abstractions, and reason upon them. The lamp of
introspection must be given him; and he must be conducted
down into the depths of his being, and round through all its
intricate chambers, and discover its hidden laboratories, and
observe their workings.  He must be taught to think, and to
think independently. Cotton Mather said of Harvard in his
day, that it had always been the glory of that institution,
"Libere philosophari et in nullius jurare verba magistri."
Shall we curtail the English department? Everybody says,
No! Keep out modern languages? Our new learning as well
as the old repels the idea. Mathematics? To say nothing of
its abstractions, and those great principles on which the
universe of matter is constructed; to say nothing of the disciplinary power of its exact reasonings, -since so many of the
modern sciences are based upon it, what can we do without
it?
How, then, shall we find time for the new studies? Not by
displacing the old, but by condensation and improvement in
teaching. The preparatory studies should be more extensive
and thorough. Is it too much to ask - what the old Puritans
of Harvard at the beginning and through the first century
required of candidates for admission to college —" an ability
to read any Latin author into English, readily make and speak
true Latin, and write it in verse as well as prose," and thus,
while in college, to speak, as they did, in no language but
Latin, except in declamations? If this cannot be expected,
considering the extent of requirements in other branches,
5




34             Opening of Walker Hall.
might we not insist on such a groundwork in beginnings, that
the business of the college-professor would be worthy of his
attainments, and the course of the students in the great literatures of antiquity full of delights? If time could be saved
here, something more might be secured in preparatory mathematics, and in the amount of attention given to this subject
afterward.  Let there be more of it before entering, or less
of it, so far as required of all, in the college-course.  It is a
common notion, that some persons are incapable of mathematics; and it is a true notion, that some students in college,
with their existing attainments, can no more master thoroughly
the assigned lessons in some branches of this science than
a common house-carpenter could construct a cathedral, or a
weak man ascend a ladder when the rounds are broken out
beyond the ability of the feet or even the hands to reach
them.  But the difficulty is not that young men generally are
incapable of mathematics.  I have heard children, hundreds
and even thousands of them, foreign and native, in the primary schools of Cambridge, go through with the complicated
problems of the famous Article B in." Colburn's First Lessons," and almost without a failure, because they had ascended
through all the steps of preparatory attainment, and could not
be admitted to the higher schools without it. All have not
the same aptitudes for this science, nor.have they for other
sciences or for languages; but all can learn the former, in
appropriate circumstances, almost as generally as the latter.
As matter of fact, however, multitudes of students come to
our colleges so miserably deficient in preparatory knowledge,
not always through any great fault of their own, that they
enter on their work without the faith of success, proceed with




Opening of Walker Hall.                 35
it despairingly, and soon advance with it to an almost total neglect and disgust. In this state they are subject to daily mortifications: they get on, if they get on at all, by memorizing a little,
using deceptive artifices a great deal, with loss of self-respect,
and moral injury to the whole man. And here I must speak
strongly, whoever may approve or otherwise, because I speak
from a deep and long-felt conviction, and say, that, in my
judgment, it is a mistake and a sin, unless we could greatly
improve the preparation, which at present seems impossible, to
insist on lesson-getting in branches of mathematics wholly
beyond the student's capacity to master them, or on any thing
more than is necessary as a basis for physics and modern
sciences. While we carry forward those who are capable of
it, and desire it, into those high regions of study where so many
of the abstract principles of creation are comprehended, and
the true mathematician exults in the atmosphere of eternal
law, more than half of every class, and often some of the best
scholars in it, might be employed on the more easily understood but no less important sciences for which we' seek room.
And I am happy to add, that the required course in Amherst
College has already reached and now rests upon this basis,
while special facilities for higher attainment in mathematical
knowledge are enjoyed.
Moreover, in the latter part of a college curriculum, when
the foundations of intellectual manhood have been broadly laid,
optional courses, carefully arranged, and adapted to the mental
needs and aptitudes of students, and capable of such combinations as would allow of long-continued attention to special
branches, might secure to many still further scientific opportunities; while others would enjoy special advantages in the




36             Opening of Walker Hall.
remaining departments.  I say optizonal courses, instead of
random choices in heterogeneous studies. In this way, discipline and training would go on, and preparation for professional schools be secured; while the joy of successful study
would be increased, and the first steps in the direction of some
life-long scholarship would be taken.
But the greatest saving for the sciences must be found in
the methods of studying them.  And this brings us fully to
the question, How and how far should they be taught?
They should not be taught in a fragmentary, desultory,
superficial way, but in a thorough, scholarly, disciplinary manner; not as disconnected facts and curious phenomena, but
as sciences according to the idea of science presented in
the early part of our discussion. One may begin with details,
and ascend to principles; or commence with principles, and
descend to minute illustrations. The former method may be
best for the inexperienced, the latter for the advanced.  But,
in the effort to comprehend a science as such, regard must be
had both to unity and multiplicity, and then to completeness.
Perfection in the attainment of any science cannot be reached:
it would require more lives than a score of students have to
bestow. But a skilful teacher may have the ideal before him,
and make progress towards it.  Unity, diversity, relations,
wholeness, - in proportion as one advances towards the comprehension of the one in the many, and the many from the one,
in that proportion has he made progress in a true scientific
attainment. Some may doubt the practicability of such teaching; but I am sure that the method is right, and believe that
success in it is possible.
To what extent, then, should the sciences be taught in




Opening of Walker Hall.                    37
college?  While they may be taught in the optional courses
more largely, to the mass of students they should be taught
in fair proportion to other branches.  Every student should
learn, first of all, what science is,- science in distinction from
"knowledges;" next to this, descriptively, what the leading
sciences are, the meaning of each, its history, progress, condition, importance, prospects. This could be done by a brief
course in text-book or lectures. What the student would thus
gain, to be sure, would be chiefly information; but it is information preparatory to more organic study: and it would also
be disgraceful for students to graduate without it. Next to this,
let one, two, or three special sciences be selected, and one, at the
very least, be in a good measure mastered. The student will
thus learn the nature of scientific research, and will know
ever afterwards how to prosecute it.  He is not now a thorough scientist; but he has acquired a scientific faculty, and has
achieved a thorough preparation for after-study.   lie has
been up to the Temple of Sciences, and beheld the magnificent
exterior.   From  some high priest of its mysteries he has
heard a description of the interior apartments. He has entered
one or more of its side-chapels, and has beheld, examined,
and wondered; and a desire, life-long if not sooner gratified, has been created within him, to explore the building,
and behold its glory.  So much can be done, ought to be
done; and no college can stand abreast of the education
of the day, or deserves to be called progressive, which fails
to do it.
As the subjects which we have now considered are undergoing public discussion, I am anxious that the doctrine of
this discourse may not be misapprehended. It goes for the




38             Opening of Walker Hall.
old college, with all possible improvements which are. improvements; especially for the more thorough, and, for a portion of
the students, more extensive courses in the modern sciences:
but it would leave it the old college, the American college,
still, without being Europeanized on the one hand, or degraded into an inorganic mass-school of "knowledges" on
the other.  It takes no ground against universities, historic
or recent, but would confound none of them with the college as
the word has been understood for two hundred years.  It
approves of professional schools when circumstances will
allow of them, scientific and other schools, round about the
college, organic with it, if you please, giving life to it, and
receiving life from it, in the oneness of a many-membered
university.  It would leave Amherst College the centre of
an inland educational community, with an Agricultural College,
a Williston Seminary, a Holyoke Seminary, and a Ladies'
College soon to be established (though at present in separate
organizations) round about it, capable itself of being developed
in the direction of as many professional and other collateral
schools as the needs of the public may demand, and the
munificence of the public will endow; but itself the old
college still, with its teaching professors, its daily recitations, its square-block, red-brick, time-honored dormitories
(though improved), and its parental careful supervision and
moral influences, - the same old college for that broad, high,
round-about culture which  has made so  many scholars,
world-teachers, and Christian noblemen, for God and mankind. It would leave out, as far as possible, whatever may be
obsolete or defective in its methods and courses; but one
thing, in conclusion, it would not leave out.




Opening of Walker Hall.                   39
Whatever changes or revolutions the college may accept,
moral supervision and Christian influence should never be left
out of it, or degraded to a secondary position in it.  Herein is
the special danger,- the outcry for great universities and immense numbers, without Christian teaching, or responsibility
for character. Cotton Mather represents, that, in the Academy
of Tiibingen, there were once more than four thousand masters; in Paris, twenty, yea, thirty thousand students; in Prague,
forty-four thousand foreigners engaged in study, besides native
Bohemians.  Extravagant as these numbers may seem, no
doubt in some of the mediaeval universities there have been
confused masses of children and youth, in incredible numbers,
congregated for instruction; as if all the high-school, and many
of the grammar-school and even primary-school children of
Massachusetts, with large numbers of collegiate and professional students, should all be educated in one place together,
away from their homes, with no other supervision than that of
a civil police. Is it extraordinary, then, that Beza should call
some of these universities flabella Satance; and  Luther
should call them  cathedras pestilelztic and anticzhristi luzminaria; and another should style them  synazgogas perditionis
et puteos Abyssi?  We think, perhaps, that we may safely
imitate the present great universities of Prussia, that mighty
nation which is making the world tremble before its intelligence and arms; but, besides the story of youthful dissipations and crimes which comes to us from those institutions,
are we willing to submit to Prussian despotism for the sake
of Prussian education? In a free country, when the moral
and the Christian influence is gone, we are all gone.
Our old colleges were founded for Christian education, man



40              Opening of Walker Hall.
hood, and usefulness. Even the mottoes and devices of the college-seals bear witness to the fact. The first and temporary
seal of Harvard contained three open Bibles, with a syllable of
the word Veritas upon each of them; its second temporary seal,
the same three Bibles, with the words Inz Christi gloriam: the
words which characterize its permanent and present seal are
Christo et ecclesice. Yale has one open Bible, with the Hebrew
words of the high priest's breastplate, Urim and T/hummimn,
inscribed in Hebrew letters upon it, and the Latin words,
Lux et veritas, around it, signifying, probably, that light and
truth are to be obtained by inquiring of the Lord. Brown
University has a red cross on a white field between four open
books, illuminated by a sun rising amid clouds, bearing the
motto, In Deo speramnms.  Dartmouth, established originally
on the frontiers of our civilization, partly to educate converted
natives, bears among other emblems the open book, the
cross, a forest of Indians bending towards a college-building,
with the words, Vox clamantis in deserto. Our own college exhibits on its seal an open Bible, with a full-orbed, unclouded
sun pouring down upon its pages, and the words beneath it,
Terras irradient.  Such was the design of nearly all our American colleges, and such ought to be their mission. They set
themselves up as the world's teachers: let them take care, lest,
by moral unsoundness or neglect, they become the world's destroyers. Before the great war, through the hurry of our secularism and the powerful tendency of our materialism, we were
fast becoming a nation of atheists. Then the Almighty thundered, and the people acknowledged his providence, and worshipped. Let it not be the fault of the colleges if that awful
lesson should need to be repeated. They ought to be not only




Opening of Walker Hall.                   41
the guides of the people in all practical affairs, but lighthouses
for them  on the'shores of time, throwing out a light far into
that dark sea of immortality which is always surging within
our hearing.  We do not ask that the college shall be a mere
school of theology; though most of our colleges were founded
with special regard to an educated ministry.  The Church
calls out, and never louder than now, for Christian ministers
of superior training and attainment to fill positions of influence, to translate the Greek and Hebrew Scriptures into all
strange languages, to defend and enforce the gospel with a
winning and powerful eloquence.  But we need, also, men of
wisdom and character, educated to their highest power of influence, in all departments of life. We only insist that the education shall be moral and Christian henceforth, as from the
beginning.  By cultivating the intellect alone, you may make
what the apostle calls principalities and powers, and insure
spiritual wickedness in high places; but you will not make what
the world most needs, - true men and Christian scholars.
One of the first lessons my father impressed upon me at
the beginning of my academic course was this, -" A learned
sinner is a kind of monster;" and the many years of experience which have since passed away have only deepened my
conviction of the fearful truth. There are examples of splendid talents, of accomplished scholarship, of polished manners,
with dispositions vilely sensual and fiendish.  Educatidn is
not enough.  An educated devil will be a devil still, and will
remain adevil till his nature is renewed.  As to Amherst
College, if the moral and /te Christian should ever desert it,
and its spirit become antagonistic to its seal, may the Al6




42             Opening of Walker Hall.
mighty send his thunderbolts and destroy it! This is my
prayer.  No: He who founded it will preserve it, and the
long procession of its sons, for many centuries to come, with
the open Bible, and the light shining full from heaven upon it,
shall powerfully help to irradiate the world.




Opening of Walker Hall.                       43
STATEMENT BY WM. A. DICKINSON, ESQ.
[NOTE. - The building has been sufficiently described in " The Exercises at the Laying of the Corner-Stone."  The building-committee consisted of the president, Hon. Samuel Williston, Hon. Alpheus Hardy,
Hon. Edward B. Gillett, and Samuel Bowles, Esq. The architect was
George Hathorne of New York; the contractor for the masonry, Richard
H. Ponsonby; for the carpenter-work, C. W. Lessey. The immediate
oversight was intrusted to William A. Dickinson, Esq., whose faithfulness, good taste, and energy have greatly contributed to make the undertaking a success.]
IT is three years since the trustees of the college, at their
October meeting, authorized a committee from their own number to contract for the erection of this building. The matter
had already been before them for several years previous, but
assumed no definite form.  The money was pledged; but it
was too large a sum to be trifled with, or to permit of experiments.  Accustomed to the idea of the old chapel-roof covering all the departments of the college, church included,
even those for whom  the larger and finer accommodations
were to be provided could not easily bring themselves up
to so sumptuous a change; indeed, seemed to be more perplexed to decide how to appropriate such wealth of opportunity
than in managing as they had within their old and narrower
limits.
One architect after another was consulted, but without




44              Opening of Walker Hall.
avail, because there was no one to tell him definitely enough
what was wanted of him.
When, however, after long study, it was settled that the
trustees' room, always made a point of by  Dr. Walker,
with'the president's office and lecture-room, and Prof. Snell's
lecture and apparatus rooms, should use one floor, and that
floor the second; and that these rooms must be allowed about
so much space; and that the trustees' room should be located
central and frdnt,,- that is, south; that the president's office
must necessarily connect directly with this, and his lectureroom with that; and that Prof. Snell's lecture-room must also
be upon *the south side, and that his apparatus-room  must
connect directly with this,  then the problem  was made up.
The rest of the building could be brought to tliis, and we
were ready then for an architect. But it was found not so
simple a matter, even by an architect, to reconcile so conflicting requirements: and it was even pronounced at one time idle
to insist upon the conditions prescribed; impossible to construct a fairly-balanced  building architecturally, with five
rooms of such sizes on one floor, with such connections, too,
as.we must have, and four of them  on the south side. The
result, however, proved the difficulties not insuperable; for we
at length received a plan from  Mr. Hathorne of New York,
covering all the points. The'second floor had the required
five rooms, the required connections,    four of them  facing
the south, -and with this a design for the exterior which
might be taken for a photograph of the building as it stands
to-day, so closely has it been followed.
The rest was easily accomplished.  The upper floor, to be
devoted to the mineralogical cabinet and a lecture-room in




Opening of W/alker Hall.               45
the department of natural history, was susceptible of any
variety of treatment; and so the lower floor, on which were
to be the treasurer's office and recitation and division rooms.
Mr. Hathorne's plan, then, heartily accepted by the professors and committee, was afterwards adopted by the trustees,
upon one condition; namely, that it could be built complete,
all fixtures and furniture included, and including all cost of
grading, for a sum not exceeding one hundred and twenty-five
thousand dollars. And, with this condition most stringently
pressed upon them, the building committee, or rather asubcommittee of the building-committee, were let loose.
They make to-day their first and their final report, and at
the same time offer their work for inspection. It has been
their aim to build well and durably; to supply every convenience in each of the departments to berepresented here; to
leave nothing undone that it seemed desirable should be done.
Many things have been added or modified, as the building has
progressed, to render the various appointments more perfect. Great pains have been taken in the matters of heating and
ventilation; the plan adopted for these having been previously
examined and indorsed by what we considered best authority;
And so, in precautions against fire, it is believed such care
has been used, that it is impossible any harm  should occur to
it from this cause, except as the result of deliberate purpose.
If apology is due that the building has not been sooner made
ready for use, we trust it may be found in the greater thoroughness of its construction, and in the finer completeness of all
its internal arrangements, beyond those at first contemplated.
Improvements will suggest themselves in the most carefullyplanned buildings, as the imaginary lines become real; es



46             Opening of Walker Hall.
pecially would this be expected in one so new in its character
as this: and we have meant to lose the advantages of no one
of these for the sake of saying we have built quicker.
We account the building to be now substantially finished
from foundation-stone to vane; and as such we offer it to-day
for comparison with the description, read by Dr. Stearns at
the laying of its corner-stone, of what it was to be.'It has
cost entire, grading about it included, and furnished throughout, just within the hundred and twenty-five thousand dollars; and so the single condition upon which the trustees
would adopt the design is fulfilled.
In its imposing yet attractive outlines it will stand a monument to science, to the noble generosity of him whose name it
bears; no less to those who, perhaps, have more disinterestedly, because silently, joined him to make available his large
offer to the college; and a monument, also, to the wisdom,
address, and unflagging zeal, of President Stearns, to whom,
more than to all others, is the college indebted for the possession of its Walker Hall; as would say every one of the
donors to the fund from which it was built.
This, and the beautiful church, the walls of which are rising
higher every day, on the eastern slope, will long attest his
taste and foresight, and his devotion to the wants and interests
of the college; determining and controlling, as they must, by
their presence and influence, the character and scope of all
future improvements upon College Hill.




Opening of Walker Hall.                  47
STATEMENT BY PROF. E. S. SNELL.
SOON after Amherst College was opened for the reception
of students, in September, I82I, a few second-hand articles
of English apparatus were purchased of Dr. Prince of Salem.
These were, a set of simple machines, a small air-pump, an
electrical machine, a compound microscope, a solar microscope, a magic-lantern, and a limited number of small articles
to accompany them.  There was also a pair of globes, and a
small Gregorian telescope.  The collection had probably done
long service elsewhere; and some of the articles were much
worn. The air-pump was especially infirm, and would generally fail before a lecture was closed,  unable to draw
another breath.
When the north college was erected, in 1822, the southern
half of the fourth story was devoted to public uses. The
space now occupied by the entry and corner-rooms was used
for a chapel.  The back middle-room  contained the college
library; and the front middle, the apparatus both in natural
philosophy and chemistry: and lectures in both of these
departments, indeed on all subjects, were given in the chapel,
the simple pulpit at the west end serving as a lecturing-desk.
Prof. Olds, the first incumbent of the chair of natural
philosophy, and Prof. Jacob Abbott, his successor, had only
the  meagre collection  already  described  with  which  to




48             Opening of Walker Hall.
illustrate the principles of the science. In 1831, Prof. Hovey,
the successor of Prof. Abbott, visited Europe for his health;
and the opportunity was seized upon by the friends of the
college to solicit contributions, and to commission the professor to purchase books for the library, and apparatus for the
scientific departments.  I think, about four thousand dollars
were raised for these purposes.  The principal part of the
philosophical cabinet was procured of Pixii of Paris, and cost
somewhat less than two thousand dollars.
The chapel-building which had  been erected  in  1826,
between the north and south colleges, had a room appropriated to the uses of the philosophical apparatus; and the few
articles first purchased of Dr. Prince had been placed in it.
Previous to the purchases made by Prof. Hovey, all the
instruments belonging to the department were accommodated
on one wide shelf extending half round that room. After the
new apparatus had arrived, and before Prof. Hovey s return,
the whole was unpacked, and the parts put together at my
own house, where it stood in two unoccupied rooms till cases
could be erected for it in the room of the chapel-building.
From I827 to 1870, a period of forty-three years, this collection of instruments has been kept in the same room, new
cases having been repeatedly added as they were needed;
but for the last eight or ten years the cases have become so
crowded, that, when a new article was wanted, the first question to be answered was, "Is there any room  for it?"  And
this want of space for the safe and convenient accommodation of new instruments has of late been a serious difficulty
in the way of increasing the collection. In quantity, and,
as I think, in real utility, it is now just about double of




Opening of Walker Hall.                  49
what it was immediately after the purchases were made in
1831.
It may not be improper for me to state in what way this
increase has been made. But let me premise, that, for a few
years after Prof. Hovey's purchases, the philosophical apparatus
of Amherst College had a high reputation. It was extensive
for that day; and the articles, mostly of French construction,
were very neat and beautiful when compared with the old and
heavy English instruments which were to be found in most of
the colleges. Professors from several institutions came to examine it; and the establishment of Pixii received not a few
large orders from  the United States in consequence of the
example set by this college.
Every department of knowledge, however, is progressive.
Whatever completeness the appliances for giving instruction
may possess this year, they will be found deficient the next.
Hence I'very soon found it necessary to furnish myself with
additional pieces, either for the illustration of newly-discovered facts and principles, or for the more perfect presentation of those already known.  But how  should this be
done?  The college was poor, and the money already expended had been begged from friends who supposed they had
set her up for a lifetime. It would not do to apply to them
again so soon.  Of course, the college must appropriate a
little to the several departments in order to keep things in
repair. The problem was, how with that little (which for this
department did not, for a considerable time, exceed twentyfive dollars a year), how with that small sum, to preserve the
apparatus in a decent condition in spite of wear and accident,
and also to make occasional additions and improvements.
7




50             Opening of Walker Hall.
With all my want of qualifications for my position, of which
none can be so fully aware as myself, I found one thing
greatly in my favor. I was born a Yankee, and from childhood had been fond of whittling. The department of natural
philosophy gave me the opportunity of indulging in this kind
of recreation. Before I could afford to buy tools, or fit up a
shop, I begged the use of both from  my worthy friend Mr.
David Parsons, who is a most skilful mechanic himself, and
who gave me gratuitously a multitude of valuable hints. The
old gentleman is to this day very fond of calling me his
apprentice. The department of natural philosophy in Amherst
College owes not a little, both directly and indirectly, to the
skill and kindness of Mr. Parsons. By slow degrees I procured tools for myself, and at length set up shop in the rear
part of my house, where, during each of the last thirty years,
I have done more or less of mechanical work. I have repaired instruments which needed repair; a considerable number I improvzed, so that they serve their purpose better, or else
answer another purpose beside that for which they were originally designed; and not a few I have wholly made, either
from published descriptions, or from designs of my own.
The most valuable article which my private work-shop now
contains is not my own, but belongs to the college. It is an
zegine lathe, turned by the foot; and was given by James T.
Ames, Esq., of Chicopee, for the benefit of the department.
The average appropriation to the department of natural
philosophy from I828 to 1869 has been about sixty-five dollars
per year, - a sum which could hardly be expected to do more
than keep the apparatus in tolerable repair. And yet, as I
have already said, this annual allowance has served to double
the value of the collection.




Opening of Walker Hall.                 5
But it will be readily perceived that the apparatus increased
in this manner cannot retain its beauty of appearance. President Hitchcock, in his " Reminiscences of Amherst College,"
paid me a compliment wholly undeserved (and I told him so)
when he stated that the visitor would hardly be able to distinguish the articles which I had made from those manufactured in London or Paris.  I have not even attempted,
much less attained to, any such niceness of finish; for this reason, if for no other, - that it would cost too much time. And in
many instances, where a French instrument would be handsomely wrought in brass, I have used wood, or other cheap
material; so that its appearance is comparatively rude and
heavy.
Now that the collection is to occupy a spacious and handsome apartment, I trust the Walker funds will avail to replace many cheap-looking instruments by more comely and
fitting ones, as well as to add a number of others which I
have for some time wished to procure, but which the former
room was not large enough to accommodate, nor the resources
of the department sufficient to purchase.




52              Opening of Walker Hall.
PROFESSOR HITCHCOCK'S REMARKS.
[NOTE.- As Prof. Hitchcock's remarks were unwritten, the following
outline of them: has been reported from memory by one of the professors.]
BEING  introduced  by the Hon. Edward B. Gillett, who
happily presided on this occasion, as the youngest or most
recently-appointed of the trustees, Rev.' Prof. Roswell D.
Hitchcock of New York said, 
He wished to declare himself at the outset as strongly in
favor of the old system of college education, with its essen-.tial principles intact and entire. He liked new means, new
facilities, new buildings, - especially such perfect edifices as
Walker Hall, so well planned and finished, and devoted to
mathematics and the kindred sciences; but he insisted on
adhering to the old system, with mental disczipline and culture
as its fundamental principles.  And in this connection he
indorsed with all his heart the address to which we had just
been listening (that of President Stearns); a thoughtful and
carefully-considered address, though written under the pressure of manifold duties; a well-balanced and matured address,
the result, manifestly, of many years of reflection, observation,
and experience; as true as the book, and as wise and judicious
as it was true, recognizing the discipline and culture of the
mind, by substantially the old means and methods, in the old
classical and mathematical studies, as the true basis of colle



Opening of Walker Hall.                  53
giate education. Mathematics and languages were the two
corner-stones of the system; and he defied the ingenuity of
man to discover any substitute or any equivalent for them as
the means of mental discipline. "God geometrizes," said the
old Greeks; and man should do likewise.
The  object of education  is chiefly twofold.  i. Mental
power, which, like physical strength, can be used for any desired purpose; and this can come only by exercise, the intense exertion, and thus the strong and fine development, of
the fibre of the brain, -just as-muscular strength comes only
by-muscular exertion. 2. Method, -not so much knowledge
of particular subjects and sciences as a right method; so
that this mental power may be rightly directed, and so be
made effective.  This must come from  study of the best
methods, and practice in view of the most perfect models;
and these are to be found in the mathematics and ancient
classics.
There are two great subjects of human thought and inquiry,
God and man; and there are two great studies, sciences, or
classes of sciences, corresponding to these two great subjects:
I. Theology, the science of sciences, at once supreme over all,
and, in a sense, comprehensive of all. 2. The humanities, including philosophy, history, public economy, art, literature; in
short, reason and speech as they have been developed and
cultivated in the progress of our race. And with emphasis it
may be said in education, and pre-eminently in college-education, that "the proper study of mankind is man."
In conclusion, the speaker exhorted the students of the college, his younger brothers, to expect power, influence, true
success, in the world; not as the, product of genius or native




54            Opening of Walker Hall.
talent, or some happy accident, but only as the reward of toil
and effort. Daniel Webster had said that he knew of no other
genius but a genius for hard work; and if they would be any
thing, or do any thing for themselves, or for their Alma Mater,
who looked to her alumni as her ornament and her support,
they must achieve it by SEVERE DISCIPLINE, HARD WORK, AND
UNCONQUERABLE WILL.




EXERCISES
AT THE
LAYING OF THE CORNER-STONE,
JUNE 10, 1868.








Opening of Walker Hall.                   57
EXERCISES AT THE LAYING OF THE
CORNER-STONE.
[NOTE. - To make the account of Walker Hall more complete, the exercises which were connected with the placing of the corner-stone, on the
ioth of June, I868, are'appended.]
THE corner-stone of the new scientific building, to be called
Walker Hall, was placed in its position at the north-west corner of the projection of the building, with informal ceremonials appropriate to the occasion, on the forenoon of Class
Day at Amherst, June Io, I868.  A procession of students
and visitors, being formed on the green west of Williston
Hall, marched across the grounds to the library, conducted by
the Mendelssohn Band, where they received the trustees, officers of the college, and guests who were present, and thence
passed over to the site of the building.
The assembly was called to order by Hon. Edward Dickinson, chairman of the day.  Introducing the services, Mr.
Dickinson said, "We\ have met this morning to witness and
assist in laying the corner-stone of a building so long needed,
so long desired, and the erection of which has been so long
delayed, that the faith of many wavered, and the subject of
ever having it came to be regarded more as a matter of fancy
than of fact.  But faith is now  exchanged for sight; fancy
8




58-             Opening of Walker Hall.
yields to reality. We now stand on solid rock, and are to-day
to place on its foundation the corner-stone of an edifice beautiful in design, tasteful in its proportions, ample in its dimensions, appropriate in all its appointments, and to be the future
permanent repository of a portion of those unrivalled and invaluable collections in the departments of natural history
which adorn the college; and, when the top-stone shall be
laid with rejoicing, may we meet again in this beautiful spot,
and dedicate the Lbuilding. to the cause, and inscribe upon it
in letters of gold the name of the Temple of Science!"
After music by the band, an appropriate and fervent prayer
was offered by Rev. Joseph Vaill, D.D., a long-tried friend of
the college, who has served it in various relations, especially
as one of its trustees, for about fifty years.
After prayer, the corner-stone was placed, with appropriate
ceremonies, by the senior class, who had desired  to honor
their Class Day by this act, and had selected a committee of
their number for the purpose.
The following hymn was sung by the college-choir. It is the
eleven hundred and fifteenth hymn of "The Sabbath HymnBook," altered and adapted to the occasion:" O God! beneath thy guiding hand
Our exiled fathers crossed the sea;
And, when they trod the wintry strand,
With prayer and psalm they worshipped thee.
Laws, freedom, truth, and faith in God,
Came with those exiles o'er the waves;
And, where their pilgrim feet have trod,
The God they trusted guards and saves.




Openzing of Walker Hall.                    59
Temples they built, and schools endowed,
To found a nation powerful, free:
So, down before thy footstool bowed,
We consecrate these walls to thee.
And here thy name, 0 God of love!
Our children's children shall adore,
Till these eternal hills remove,
And spring adorns the earth no more."
After the singing, a paper was read by the president, making some statements respecting the character and design of
the contemplated building, with notices of the principal donors, especially of Dr. Walker, the leading contributor towards
it, and whose name it is to bear.
Hon. Alpheus Hardy was then called upon by the chairman of the day to take the place of another gentleman from
whom the committee of arrangements had solicited an address
for the occasion.  Mr. Hardy consented to make a few offhand remarks, though he declined to be considered as making
a speech.  We have been unable to obtain any copy or outline of his remarks, but take the liberty to say, that, though
extemporaneous, they were highly interesting, and were much
applauded. After complimenting the generosity of Dr. Walker,
notwithstanding his faults, from which he drew impressive lessons for young men, and dwelling at some length upon the
advantages which had already resulted to the college from the
munificence of this eminent donor, and the encouragement
thus given to other friends to contribute towards the perfecting of an institution so firmly founded, he spoke pleasantly
of the president and officers of the college, and closed with a




60              Opening of   Walker Hall.
beautiful tribute of commendation to a " gentleman across the
river," who was, after all, the special benefactor of the college;
who took it up years ago in its feebleness, when, for want of
pecuniary strength, it was ready to perish, and, by his far-seeing
wisdom and munificence, breathed into it the breath of life.
Back of all others, and whoever may come after, the college
will never forget the early generosity and continued favors of
Samuel Williston.
Prof. Snell was also called upon for remarks; who said that
he would make: no'other.speech than to state a fact; viz., "that
he had already performed his part by drawing off with his
air-pump tegas' from the box which contained documents intended for posterity:; as, if we wish to presezve any thing in
the shape of literature, it is important to take thegas out.
When these exercises were concluded, the audience, assisted by the band, joined in singing,
"Praise God, froml whom all blessings flow."
The benediction was pronounced by Dr.' Vaill.'The morning was very beautiful. The large audience of ladies and gentlemen, pleasantly shaded from  the sun by the
college-grove, under whose branches they had assembled,
seemed to participate in the gladness of the day, and freely
congratulated each other upon the prospect of adding such a
magnificent building to the means of education in Amherst.




Openinz'g of  WalZker Hall.              61
PRESIDENT STEARNS'S REMARKS.
WE have assembled to place- the corner-stone of a new
Temple of Science in Amherst College.  It is intended for
the promotion of.thorough instruction in important branches
of academic discipline.  It is to be located, as you see, just
north of the grove, partly on land purchased for the purpose
from  Mr. Boltwood.  Its dimensions are to be a hundred
and twenty feet in length from east to west, and sixty-five feet
in its greatest breadth, not including porches. On opposite
sides of this main edifice there will be two spacious stone
porches, with ascending steps thirty feet in breadth. These
designate and protect the main entrances; the one on the
south facing the college-grounds, and that on the north the
boundary-avenue.  The building is to be three stories high
above the basement, the height of' each story being fifteen
feet. In the centre of the building, and approached through
the'porches and connecting vestibules, is the main hall, about
thirty feet square, from' which, on the different floors, the
rooms and offices will be entered..This hall contains the
main stairway, surrounded by a series of arches, forming on
each landing an arcade gallery, with columns and carved capitals rising one above the other to the top of the building.
The light is received from the.ceiling through an ample skylight; the whole height of the hall, from the first'floor to the
sky-light, being fifty feet.




62              Openzing of Walker Hall.
The exterior of the building will be simple in its detail, and
imposing in its mass and outline. The style is that known
as the revised mediaeval.
The material for the work is Monson granite, the substantial evidences of which we see scattered and piled on all sides
around us. It is generously furnished by William N. Flynt,
Esq., from  his quarry in Monson, without other expense to
the college than the cost of transportation.  To this solid
granite will be added dark sandstone in bands, tracery, and
capitals, occasionally used for contrast and relief.  At the
east and west ends, also on the north side, are small towers,
rising slightly above the roof, relieved by a central tower surmounting the entire mass, and rising to the height of a hundred and twenty feet from the ground.
On the first floor there will be recitation-rooms, division
and study rooms for mathematical and astronomical purposes,
and a treasurer's office and vault.  The second floor will contain the president's lecture-room and private office on the
west and south, the trustees' room in the centre, a philosophical, lecture, and recitation room  on the'east and south, and
connecting with this, on the north, a fine apparatus-room
fifty-four feet long by twenty wide, with chemical. and work
rooms for the  special, accommodation of the  professor of
natural philosophy'and his classes.  The third story will be
devoted to a lecture-room in the department of natural history,
and for the accommodation of cabinets, especially that splendid collection of minerals gathered by'Prof. Shepard, which
constitutes one of the most brilliant ornaments of the college.
The building, when completed, will be known as Walker Hall.
If present designs are carried out, it will be the largest, most




Opening of Walker Hall.                  63
convenient, most expensive, most princely edifice on our
grounds.
The architect is George Hathorne, Esq., of New  York,
whose designs, as well as his genius and reputation, are a
guaranty that his work, when completed, will praise him.
Richard  H. Ponsonby, Esq., is the  contractor for the
masonry; and C. W. Lessey, Esq., is the contractor for the
carpenter's work, - both of them gentlemen of experience and
character in the arts which they profess.  It will cost, if completed according to the contracts, something over a hundred thousand dollars.
It has been thought desirable that I should make some
statements respecting the principal donors of this building,
and of their views in contributing to its construction. As
Dr. Walker, whose name it bears, furnished more than half
the means necessary to its projected cost, and as he is the
only one of these donors who has already passed from earth,
(long may the noble survivors remain among us!) and as Dr.
Walker has been but recently, and still is very partially,
known to the friends of Amherst, it may be proper that I
should speak of him and his interest in us with more freedom
than delicacy would justify if he were still in the midst of us.
In gathering some items, especially concerning his earlier
history and his standing as a physician, I am aided by a
manuscript notice of him, which was prepared and read before
the Medical Society by Dr. Morrill Wyman of Cambridge,
who was a pupil of Dr. Walker, and enjoyed his confidence, I
believe, to the last.
The name of our generous donor was William  Johnson
Walker. He was born in Charlestown, Mass., March 15, 1790;




64              Opening of Walker Hall.
and died in Newport, R.I., April 2, 1865; being a little over
seventy-five years of age. His father was Major Timothy
Walker of Charlestown, Mass. His mother, from whom  he
received the name of Johnson, was a lineal descendant of
Capt. Edward Johnson of Woburn, Mass., author of that
quaint old Puritan history; entitled "Wonder-working Providence of Zion's Saviour in New England."  Of this line of
ancestry he was specially fond of speaking in my intercourse
with him; and, as the president of your college happened to
claim descent from the same original Johnson stock, this little
bond of connection, though remote, is believed to have been
helpful, sometimes, in securing the continued favor which Dr.
Walker was pleased to accord to us.  His early education was
received in the public schools of his native town. He fitted
for college in Phillips'Academy, Andover; entered the University at Cambridge in I8o6, and was graduated in course
in I8Io.  He was specially interested in the study of Latin,
and his conversation in after-life abounded in apt quotations
from it; also in geometry, in which he continued to take great
pleasure through life. The first strong impulse which he had
for thorough study, the first time that he perceived any real
meaning in the mathematics, or experienced any love for them,
as he repeatedly told me, was in connection with the efforts
of one of his college instructors, who called him to his private
room, and explained to him with great patience the relations
contained in the problem which had been assigned to him.
He studied medicine in Charlestown, and afterwards in
Medford, under the direction of John Brooks, who was some
years later appointed Governor of the Commonwealth.  For
this gentleman as his medical instructor, especially for the




Opening of Walker Hall.                 65
precision and thoroughness of his teaching, he often expressed the profoundest regard. "The study of his profession" (I here quote from  Dr. Wyman) "was perfectly congenial to his tastes; and he pursued it, especially the branches
of anatomy and physiology, with great industry and success.
While yet a student, he competed successfully for the prize on
the subject of hydrocephalus, offered by the Boylston Medical
Committee of Harvard University, in I813."  Soon after
obtaining his medical degree, "war at the time existing between the United States and Great Britain, he sailed for
France, on a privateer fitted out from Boston to prey upon
the English commerce. In Paris he devoted himself assiduously to his profession. The number of French students
being greatly diminished by the conscription of Napoleon, the
hospitals were mainly served by medical students from
abroad."  Of the unusual opportunities thus offered, under
the best medical instructors of the time, Dr. Walker availed
himself most faithfully. "Soon after the abdication of Napoleon, he went to London, and became a pupil of Sir Astley
Cooper; and, having spent six months in the prosecution of
his studies in Guy's and St. Thomas's Hospitals, he returned
to the United States, and immediately commenced the practice of his profession in his native town."
"By his devotion and kindness to his patients," says Dr.
Wyman, " and his consideration of those less favored by fortune, he became beloved and popular; by his knowledge of
his profession, by the readiness and clearness with which he
communicated that knowledge to his juniors, his affable manpers towards them, and his scrupulous care of their reputation,
he became with them a favorite consulting physician and sur9




66             Opening of Walker Hall.
geon. The older members of the profession, though they did.
not always find him as agreeable in the consultation-room as
they might wish, could never deny the accuracy of his observation, nor the acuteness of his diagnosis. lie was appointed
physician and surgeon of the Massachusetts State Prison,
which office he held for several years, and also consulting
surgeon to the Massachusetts General Hospital. After having
practised his profession about thirty years, and having performed successfully nearly all the capital operations in surgery, he relinquished it, and removed to Boston. He then
turned his attention to the various public improvements in
progress, especially in manufactures and railroads. The mental qualities which made him eminent in his profession did not
fail him in his new walk, and he soon amassed a large fortune.
But it was no sooner acquired than he set about distributing
it."
As Dr. Wyman prepared his manuscript for the medical
society in which Dr. Walker was well known, it may be of
interest if I add some things from my own knowledge for the
information of the friends of Amherst, among whom he has
been, except from the fame of his munificence, but little
known.  Though I had long heard of him  as a physician of
peculiar qualities and great abilities, I had had no personal
acquaintance with him till about the year I86I, when I received a note from him in which he proposed to contribute
something for education in Amherst College and Williams
College. As the result of conferences and correspondence,
he donated real estate to Williams College, Tufts College, and
Amherst College, which was to be held for a number of years
in trust, and then be used for objects which he designated.




Opening of Walker Hall.                 67
We have but recently received the last instalment from that
gift. The portion assigned to Amherst, which was intended
as the foundation of a professorship of mathematics and astronomy, including a part of the interest which had accrued,
amounts to about twenty-five thousand dollars, and is regarded
as a permanent endowment of that professorship. He also
gave large sums during his lifetime, and afterwards by will, to
the Natural-History Society in Boston, to the Institute of
Technology, and to Tufts College. But I shall speak here
only of his benefactions to Amherst. His second donation
to Amherst was ten thousand dollars for special instruction in
mathematics, the income to be paid as salary to some recent
graduate of superior mathematical abilities and aspirations,
who should teach select divisions of students of the sophomore and freshman classes, by a special drill, under the
general direction of the head of the department who was to
oversee these special students, while he gave thorough instruction also to the remainder of the class. He afterwards
gave us two thousand dollars, the income of which was to be
expended in prizes, as testimonials of the high proficiency
which he hoped some few at least in every class would be
able to reach in matiematical science. Meanwhile, he had
also given several hundred dollars as a temporary provision
for the advancement of this branch of education.
After making many inquiries respecting the condition and
wants of the college, he was led to propose the construction
of a building for mathematical and other scientific purposes,
which might also enclose important rooms for some of the
prominent needs of the college. His first proposition was,
that he would give twenty thousand dollars for this object,




68             Opening of Walker Hall.
provided the friends of the college would contribute an equal
amount, -a condition almost universally received as at that
time impracticable. Many solicitations for assistance in the
attempt proposed were made, and many of them  signally
failed. A  few gentlemen, however, when the subject had
been fully presented to them, came to be of a different mind.
First, our old and long-tried benefactor, Hon. Samuel Williston, was able to comprehend the full breadth of the importance, present and prospective, of complying at once with
what might seem to be the hard conditions of this proposed
gift. Without consulting his own inclinations or his own convenience, which might at that time have prompted a different
result, he decided to contribute five thousand dollars to the
object. This act of Mr. Williston gave courage for further
attempts. I have been accustomed to look upon it, under all
circumstances, as one of the most broad-minded and disinterested of that gentleman's many generous donations to the
college.  Samuel Hitchcock, Esq., of Brimfield, the gentleman whose name is attached to the Hitchcock Professorship
of Natural Theology and Geology; whose scholarships, known
as the " Hitchcock Scholarships," have gladdened the hearts
of a large number of students who were faltering for want of
pecuniary means in their course, and have helped to secure
superior talents and acquisitions to the world, - this gentleman
responded with cheerfulness to the appeal, and, urging the
collection of the whole sum required as soon as possible, subscribed, as Mr. Williston had done, five thousand dollars.
James Smith, Esq., a New-Englander by birth, but a resident
in Philadelphia, his adopted city, in which he has devoted
generous sums for the promotion of those great objects which




Opening of Walker Hall.                 69
the true New-Englander holds dear, - education, freedom, and
religion, - and who had been in the habit of regarding Amherst
College as a bulwark of intelligence and faith, very kindly
and very nobly, on solicitation, added a third five thousand
dollars to the sum. With all this encouragement, it now
seemed impossible to obtain the balance. But we were too
near the goal willingly to yield the prize. Our friends in
Boston and vicinity, including our own trustees, came to the
rescue.  Among them, Hon. Alpheus Hardy, who had frequently conferred with Dr. Walker on the subject, and had
greatly assisted to secure the continuance of his patience and
good-will, was the largest contributor. The venerable Dr.
Alden, who has been unwearied in his devotion to the college,
as a member of the board of trustees, for many years, and
other gentlemen, gave liberally; and the forty thousand dollars
was secured.  This, however, was no sooner accomplished
than Dr. Walker perceived, what some had suspected before,
that a building such as he contemplated could not be erected
for any such sum. A  new  proposition was made by Dr.
Walker; viz., that he would give twenty thousand dollars
more, on condition that the friends of the college would add
another equal amount. This proposition was received with
surprise (I trust also with gratitude), but at the same time with
consternation approaching despair of success. Many said,
"The raising of such another sum is impossible." But more
was depending than appeared. The doctor also was pleased
very soon to put forward the suggestion, that, if his wishes
should be complied with, the amount would probably be made
up to a hundred thousand dollars without further tax upon
the college or its friends. I have only time to mention the




70             Opening of Walker Hall.
final result; which was, in general, that Messrs. Williston,
Hitchcock, and Smith consented to double their subscriptions;
and J. C. Baldwin, Esq., of New York, himself a generous
donor of the college in another direction, kindly permitted
that a legacy bequeathed to the college by his brother, M. H.
Baldwin, Esq., and of which the surviving brother had the
right of specific appropriation, should go to make up the sum.
When this sum had been fully secured, and the friends of
the college had begun to take breath, Dr. Walker, who was
becoming more and more interested in our affairs, seeing that
what the college now specially needed was the endowment
of some existing professorships and the support of the general
treasury, proposed to give the college fifty thousand dollars,
provided a hundred thousand dollars more should be subscribed by the other friends of the institution.  Half this
sum  had been conditionally though prospectively pledged;
and there seemed to be a fair prospect that the whole might
be raised, or that Dr. Walker would pay over his subscription,
without insisting upon the full amount on which it had been
conditioned, when his sudden death intervened, and thus the
whole project came to the ground. Our hope of relief to the
general treasury, and ability to pay adequate salaries to professors, meet general expenses, and make necessary improvements, was thus doomed to disappointment.
Dr. Walker's kindly feelings towards us continued to the
last.  March 31, I865, he writes,"For the last several weeks I have suffered excruciating
pains; been confined mostly to my bed  and am in great
danger of passing off without completing the business in




Opening of Walker Hall.                  7I
hand with your college.  Should things be so, I wish to
complete all my worldly affairs while I am  able so to do.
What will be the desires of the college after they receive
the hundred and fifty?
"P. S.- Details must be attended to at once."
This letter, written on Friday, came to hand on Saturday
night. The next day, which was sabbath, he suddenly expired.
His disease was a disease of the heart.  He had often told
me that he was a "minute man."  The event proved that
he understood his condition.
Dr. Walker left a great property. After making such provision for his family as he thought proper, and devising several bequests, he gave the balance, by will, to the NaturalHistory Society of Boston, to Tufts College, to the Institute
of Technology, and to Amherst College, to be divided among
them, in equal parts, as his residuary legatees. In the settlement of the estate, these several institutions, yielding to the
dictates of expediency, -to say nothing of justice,- consented to surrender three hundred thousand dollars of their joint
claim  to the family of Dr. Walker, with whom  he had not
resided for several years, and for whom, if he had provided
according to his own rigid ideas of economy, he had not
made provision in accordance with the expectations which his
great property might naturally excite. I take no pleasure in
adding, that, after this liberal arrangement, a suit was unexpectedly commenced, and a question in law is still pending,
between the widow of the deceased and the executors, for fifty
thousand dollars more.  Our college has already received,
under the will, a hundred  and twenty thousand  dollars,




72             Openzing of Walker Hall.
which, added to preceding donations, amounts to something
over two hundred thousand dollars; and something, though
not a great sum, more may be expected,
The friends of Amherst who do not know will naturally ask,
"What sort of man was this Dr. Walker?"  He was a peculiar man.  He was a powerful man.  He was a self-relying
man.  He was a passionate man. He was a large-hearted
man.  He loved and would protect those whom he considered
his friends, at all hazards. To be his enemy and have much
to do with him, to say the least, was not comfortable. " No
man," says Dr. Wyman; "was ever a truer friend; and those
whom he considered his enemies were never in doubt as to his
relations to them. His temperament was ardent, which sometimes betrayed him into a course of action in which there was
much to regret, and little to defend."
He had resided in Newport for several years in a highly respectable family boarding-house, where he lived very plainly
and economically, though not grudgingly; entertaining his
friends liberally when they called; contented when his wishes
were not thwarted and his few wants were supplied; grateful
for sympathy accorded to him in his isolation and infirmities,
and especially for the attentions bestowed upon him by the
venerable ladies under whose roof he dwelt, and whose quiet
kindness he rewarded by a handsome legacy to insure the
comforts of their declining years.
His conversation abounded in anecdote, early memories,
apt quotations. He was often humorous, never uninteresting.
Neglect, disrespect, strong opposition, concealment, and indirection in dealing with him, would rouse the lion which was
sleeping within him. Those who once lost his confidence




Opening of Walker Hall.                 73
were not likely to regain it. Such men always have enemies.
"All my friends," he once said to me sadly, "turn against me
after a whi/e."
He often spoke regretfully, sometimes indignantly, of what
he considered neglects in his early education, particularly of
a want of thoroughness and faithfulness on the part of some
of his instructors.  "If I had gone right to," said
he, "instead of going where I did, I should have been a
different man from what I am. That early neglect has been
the bane of my life."  "You plead hard," said he in a letter,
"for the dull members of classes, when you say they are
some of them destined to fit boys to enter our colleges, and
therefore should be thoroughly drilled. I had just such instructors.  I want no more of them.  Would to God my
lines had fallen under skilful and accurate masters! Can the
blind lead the blind? I trow not."
In my personal intercourse with him, he was uniformly
courteous, respectful, gentle, and kindly; but I saw enough
to satisfy me that his nature was imperious, his purposes
persistent, and his will indomitable. He was not a man to
be advised.  He would listen to reasons till his mind was
made up: from  that moment he was impatient of adverse
or even kindly suggestion. You had your choice, - to accept
his propositions, or take your hat and retire as gracefully as
you could, but with the understanding that you retired forever.  He did, however, sometimes change his views; but this
change was exceptional, and did not usually occur till time
had had its influence, and the reasons for it had become his
own. When he had formed his plans, he pushed them with
all the energy of his great nature. In meeting the conditions
10




74             Openi7z g of Walker Hall.
of his proposed gifts, he could scarcely see any difficulties in
the way; wondering at the hesitation of the college, not to
say asking impossibilities. In looking over the correspondence, I find not unfrequently some such expressions as these:
"You MUST" (underscored by a threefold emphasis) "get
the whole twenty thousand dollars."  " Can you not push it
to completion now? "  "  ihil sine labore."  "Nil arduumn est
mortalibus."  "Do your' people want my money?"  "You
see I am giving away my property, and I wish to complete the
business with your college as soon as possible." When hard
pressed to obtain the required funds, I had once written, "It
is impossible to hurry such matters beyond certain limits;
but, Deo volente, if I live, the full amnount will be obtained."
He responded with delight, " Dear sir, I am  gratified with
your late communication.  When you say'I will do it,' I call
to mind the veritable blood of Edward Johnson.  Possztnt
quia posse videntur." The next time I met him, and with the
subscription completed, he said, " When a Johnson crooks his
elbow, and says'I will,' the thing goes," —an assertion which
was true of one man, or it was no fault of William johnson
Walker.
But I shall not quite meet the views of the friends of Amherst unless I answer a question always uppermost in their
minds, " What was his religio-us character? " He early told me
that his religious views were his own, and that he had never
disclosed them, except, in part, to one person.  "They call
me," he said, "an Ishmaelite;" by which he meant, I suppose,
that he did not agree with anybody, -a position which one
would not naturally deny.  He wrote to me in my afflictions
during the war more than once, tenderly, and almost reli



Openzig of Wtalker Hall.                75
giously. He attended the dying-bed of an aged member of
the household with whom he resided in Newport, reading to
her daily in the New Testament, and suggesting Christian
consolations.  Of her he wrote me, "The elder sister of my
household (seventy-eight years of age) is near her exit from
this world. I admire to witness the placid, peaceful, happy
termination of a well-spent, useful life, when the fruit is ripe,
and the prospect of everlasting joy as reliable and hopeful as
in the case of my friend."  Towards the last, when he had
reminded me in a letter that he was nearly through, I framed
an answer with the intention of drawing out his religious
feelings (if he should be disposed to communicate them), that
I might, if possible, afford him some Christian sympathy and
assistance.  He responded kindly; said that he had been intending to write me a long letter, but his failing strength would
not allow of it. His views in the appropriation of his property indicated generosity, liberal ideas, and an intelligent appreciation of the value of sound learning. "I have made
most of my property," he said, "since I retired from  the
world; and almost my only object in doing it has been that I
may contribute to education."  "More than once," he said,
"I have made arrangements for my family in my will, - as
much as I think necessary for them; as much as they and
others seem to think is necessary: all the rest I intend shall
go to promote education."  When he made his first donation
to Amherst, he accompanied it with these words: "It is my
desire to contribute in such manner as I can to the promotion
of practical knowledge and sound mental discipline in the
young men of our commonwealth and nation.  The means
within my power which appear to me most suitable for the




76             Opening of Walker Ha11.
purpose are to place, in the hands of established institutions
for education, funds, to be by them devoted to perfecting the
systems and methods of instruction in specific branches."
When he gave his two thousand dollars for prizes, he said,
"I consider myself a steward in the distribution of my means.
Tell the young men, that, if they take half the pleasure in deserving the prizes which I do in bestowing them, I shall be
compensated.  Tell them also that there is nothing worth living for but doing good to mankind." In reference to giving
his money to institutions of different theological views, he
said humorously, "If any of them are in error, perhaps the best
thing I can do is to enlighten them by education." In closing
his will, he says, " Finally, I request the recipients of the
above-bequeathed property to realize that no inconsiderable
portion thereof has been gathered as the fruits of a laborious
vocation, exercised through anxious days and sleepless nights;
that it is given to them, inz trust, nevertheless, to be expended
so as to enure to the greatest advancement of sound education
in the department as above specified, and the public good. I
request that its investment may be safely guarded; that its
expenditure may be subject to the strictest economy; yet that
it may be appropriated liberally, where the objects aimed at
justify an open hand, and cannot be afforded the cause of education and the public good at less expense."
If any inquire why this building was not sooner commenced, I answer briefly, The reasons may be found, first, in
the wish of Dr. Walker, expressed often during his lifetime,
that no money should be expended upon it in the then existing state of labor and the public finances; and second, that,
though there might have been delay in consequence of in



Opening of Walker Hall.                    77
ability to settle sooner several questions with regard to location
and internal arrangement, there never had come a time previous to the present when contracts could be made at all advantageous to the enterprise, and without too much risk to
the college.
All that I have to say further of Dr. Walker is simply
this: Dr. Walker was a great man in his way.  He had
great abilities, great excellences, great peculiarities.  He has
been a great friend of Amherst College; and it becomes us, as
a sacred debt of gratitude to a remarkable benefactor, to defend his reputation as we may, and cherish his memory.
RAND, AVERY, & FRYE, PRINTERS, NO. 3, CORNHILL, BOSTON.